Cartilage is used as graft material in myringoplasty, tympanoplasty and many other ear surgeries. In these operations, a cartilage obtained from one's own is usually preferred and the cartilage obtained is required be formed suitably. During this forming operation, it is also tried to utilize a limited amount of cartilage graft with as little loss as possible while it is tried to give a desired form to the cartilage precisely. Although the result desired to be reached may vary in accordance with the specific requirements of different surgeries, thin and smooth-surface layers are usually preferred. The desired thickness mostly requires to slice the cartilage in 0.2-0.4 mm thickness. Despite the fact that this is the desired result, it is very difficult to obtain cartilage slices with desired thickness and uniformity via a manual cartilage slicing method.
There are some cartilage slicing devices developed in the state of the art in order to solve this problem. Although cartilage slices with desired thickness can be obtained by these devices, the said designs have some limitations. In the most frequently encountered design of cartilage slicing device, the device has fixed plates like clamp which compresses the cartilage from two sides. After the cartilage is fixed in a desired position by washers with predetermined thicknesses—which are used for controlling thickness of the slice and placed next to it the cartilage is sliced by passing a blade suitable for the device through the cartilage.
Some of the problems confronted by this design are as follows: only one slice can be received from the cartilage at a time; it is required to open and re-prepare the device afterwards; it can only be used with a special blade having its own consumable material; it necessitates a large number of positioning washers which are prone to loss or bending and have different thicknesses; and most importantly, it is crushed due to the wall thickness of the blade passing through the cartilage which is fixed among the clamping plates, to a certain extent.
A cartilage piece desired to be sliced is mostly thinner than 1 millimeter. Whereas surgical blades usually have approximately 0.4 mm thickness. This indicates that the cartilage will be substantially crushed while a blade is passing through thereof in the event that it is fixed from its both sides. And crushed cartilages lose their structural strength. With the purpose of being a solution for the problem of crushing while cutting cartilage, positioning washers are made as perforated in some designs wherein fixed clamping washers are used. The cartilage, which is compressed while the blade is cutting the cartilage, is forced to replace inwards these perforations instead of being entirely crushed. In conclusion, a slice which is a less crushed but has a wavy surface is obtained.
The United States patent document no. US2014/0364854, an application in the state of the art, discloses a disposable cartilage cutter. The medical cutting device disclosed in the said patent document enables to produce cartilages thinner than big cartilages and it is preferably made of a sterilizable material such as sterilizable plastic. The cutting devices comprise device body and cover. The device body comprises a first holding device with a first working section having a first recess disposed on a thereof. The said first recess is entirely enclosed by a first delimiting ridge or it is partially enclosed by a plurality of ridges.
The United States patent document no. US2012/0191093, an application in the state of the art, discloses an apparatus and method for cutting costal cartilage. The invention disclosed in the said patent document enables to reduce the skill and the time required, while it increases the uniformity of the cut slices for obtaining cartilage slices. In addition, slices are obtained precisely from the central core of the rib via an adjustable guide. The present device comprises three main components: a cutting jig, a slide member and a base. When the slide member and base are coupled together, a specimen assembly is formed. The cutting jig comprises two substantially U-shaped halves, namely a top half and a bottom half. The bottom half of the cutting jig comprises a substantially T-shaped jig key on its outer edge. It helps the key cutting jig to be guided along through the specimen assembly. There is a pair of parallel blades separated from each other by a pair of aluminium spacers between the bottom half and the top half. The bottom and top halves have the blades and the spacers there between and they enable to define an aperture in the center of the cutting jig due to their U-shape. The spacers enable the blades to be in a fixed distance apart and ensure that an aperture or cutting segment which is used to cut a cartilage specimen is defined. The cutting jig and the blades are held in a locked position with the aid of a pair of bolts inserted through both the top and the bottom halves.